Intro -- Durval Muniz de Castro LO10653

Durval Muniz de Castro (durval@ia.cti.br)
Tue, 22 Oct 1996 14:45:16 -0700

I am an electronics engineer who worked for about 20 years with systems
design and project management. Then I began to question the purpose of the
things I was doing and what good it did to others. After some doubts
whether I should look for a new profession, I began to find some answers
in quality management and finally, about two years ago, while I was doing
my MSc at the University of Campinas, I read The Fifth Discipline and then
wanted to know more and help create a learning organization in my
workplace. This second objective has been more difficult!

I have found that the basic ideas of the LO are accepted by many people.
When we start to put them in practice, doubts and resistances arise, fast
results are wanted, there is a feeling of being lost and temptation to
rely on control to produce results. I hope to learn more about how to
handle these problems.

I also have a wider concern about the ethical aspect of business. I have a
feeling that our culture (and here I am not sure whether this is brazilian
culture or occidental culture) expects us to be ethical inside the group
(company, family,...) but not so much outside. Is it fair to sell a
customer something he does not really need, or to hide some information
about the product, etc.?

Finally, I have a question about the role of philosophy in our everyday
life. I am not a professional philosopher, but I like to read and think
about philosophy. For me, the essence of philosophy is in Socrates'
defense. The fact that philosophy became a complex and specialised field
turns people away from it and that is a loss. I think one of the great
objectives of philosophy is to keep our learning channels open. Is LO a
kind of living philosophy? 

-- 
Durval Muniz de Castro
Fundacao Centro Tecnologico para Informatica
Campinas - Brasil
 


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